Sunday, February 28, 2010

Amanda had to make a new character after Abby Aces got eaten by zombies (and then shot to pieces by the mercenary commandos..) in last week’s episode. She’s now playing Commander K, the owner and commander of K’s Kommandos; the mercenary unit currently making use of the Mutton chop Express as their dedicated transport.

Brenda, who has just moved back to town (Yay!) also stopped by to give SW a try (or, having nothing better to do, was browbeaten into giving it a try) so I quickly came up with a second in command for K’s Kommando’s for her to play.

Rick decided that being Heroic was “stupid” and so voluntarily took Bad Luck instead.

Talbot IV, 8944-056

SITUATION

After last week’s episode Captian Jackson insisted on returning “the package” to Bubba the Gutt – without even opening to see what it was inside! Bubba was grateful for such a display of loyalty and declared Captain Jackson free of debt.

The Mercenaries then set about trying to find some employment and scored themselves a quick Raid Ticket on Talbot IV. A local government hired the unit to take out a pesky group of marauders that the local authorities had neither the manpower not skills to.

SCENARIO

Raid the Compound. Kill or capture all within.

(Captain Jackson sent the Wrong Way and the two engineers along to see if they could scavenge any useful spares for the ship…)

Wrong Way Joe scanned the location from Orbit and determined that there was indeed a compound at the given location and it was in fact inhabited….

The group tried to sneak up on the compound in the pre-dawn light but weren’t all that sneaky. The sentries spotted them and all hell broke loose before they even got to the compound wall. The sentries were quickly dispatched in a hail of 10mm explosive-tipped light armour-piercing rounds.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

The teams move up and prepare to enter the compound.

Sgt. Mjr Anderson’s team are the first into the compound.

The three ships crew skulk around outside for a bit.

Angry Ali decided to light up Anderson’s team as they entered the compound….

OOOHH! That's going to hurt!!

…and he took two out in a hail of full auto gun fire!

One of the other groups of marauders, roused from their sleep set up their LMG and took down two of Jones’ team as they entered the compound.

Everyone went for cover at that point and blazed away at each other with little effect for a couple turns.

Finally Mad Willie decided he’s had enough waiting around and charged in both pistols blazing…

…and took down one of the marauders – while dodging bullets from others that had been waiting on hold for just such an opportunity…

Wrong way followed him in, then the mercenaries, feeling a little shameful about hiding in cover while the un armoured ships crew were dashing around through the compound, made their way in… Sgt. Mjr. Anderson charged across the middle of the compound and chopped one marauder in two!

Mad Willie dashed out form the building he ducked into, guns blazing again…

…hmmmm… better benny that one…

re-rolling he hit Angry Ali – but then cause no damage…

Cpl. Jones, not to be outdone by some mad man in a skirt, bolt gun blazing away… mad Willie seeing him getting ahead left cover and gave chase.

The pair took turns blasting the defenders apart and leap-frogged through the building.

Willie was the first one in the building. He took out the last marauder on the ground floor…

…the charged upstairs in search of their leader.

The rest of Jones’ Team moved in to sweep the building and Anton dashed into the compound, but was winged by Angry Ali…

Anderson’s Team blasted apart the wall by the window Ali was shooting through, shaking him.

Ali, hearing the mad Scotsman taunting the mercenary commandos trailing behind him rushed to the stairs and riddled the area with bullets. Mad Willie, thanks to some bennies, rushed through unscathed and shot up Ali point blank – causing three wounds.

Cpl. Jones shot into the melee hitting both Mad Willie and Angry Ali – Ali he finished off, but Willie, thanks to more bennies, ended the game without a scratch.

Elsewhere, Sgt. Mjr. Anderson had collected a prisoner and Commander K had started checking on her downed Mercs.

I realized afterwards that no one there had healing!? So their wounds would likely have ended up being slightly more grievous! As it is the two injured in Anderson’s team were lightly wounded, as was one of the members of Jones’ Team, and will shortly return to action. The other wounded member of Jones’ Team was more seriously wounded and will be recuperating in the sick bay a bit longer.

Mad Willie and Anton scrounged a few spares and some new audio accessories (speaker wire… lots and lots of speaker wire…).

Coming soon to Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

There likely won’t be an Savage Action next Saturday as I’ll be hosting my second annual Hordes of the Things Campaign Weekend – you can read all about that at Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog soon enough. After that the Further Adventures of the Muttonchop Express continue!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

We’ve been having so much fun the last couple weeks with the gritty sci-fi skirmishing I decided to have everyone make characters and take an extended diversion from the L5R Campaign. I decided to bring back the Muttonchop Express with a few new crew members…

Lingnag III, 8944-036

SITUATION

Captain Jackson took his cut from the deal on Saturnalia VI and headed straight to Bubba the Gutt to pay off his debts… Unfortunately some minor Imperial entanglements delayed him and Bubba decided to add a late payment fee… Captain Jackson couldn’t pay the fee so Bubba the Gutt said if Jackson made one small delivery for him he would waive any further debt against the Muttonchop Express. It seemed easy enough…

SCENARIO

The crew is to deliver a crate – which was absolutely NOT to be opened to Fast Freddy on Lingnag III. Confirmation of that delivery (scanned thumb print) was to be returned to Bubba the Gutt.

Captain Jackson set the Muttonchop Express down on Lingnag III, among some low hills about 10Km from Fast Freddy’s compound. He sent Abby Aces along with Bonesaw, Wrong Way Joe, mad Willy, and five of the Commandos (including BOTH the two section commanders – as the pair are essentially inseparable…).

AS the G-sled approached the compound they noticed it was kind of quiet… Aces, Bonesaw, Wrong Way, Mad Willy and Sgt. J. Prince hopped off and approached cautiously. Sgt. N. Prince and the other three Commandos stayed with the G-Sled.

The group entered the compound and it seemed to be deserted, they spread out to search. Sgt. J. Prince entered the main building, and came running back out shouting for everyone to come – he’d found piles of dead bodies. Before they arrived he went back in. What he saw next he really wasn’t expecting….

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

The bodies all started getting up! Sgt. Prince failed his spirit and was duly shaken!

Luckily he recovered his wits and bolted out of there before they could grab him!

Two jokers got deal on round one… both to the guys waiting out on the G-sled that couldn’t actually DO anything…

The Zombies come swarming out! Abby Aces was shaken by the sight of them. Somehow Wrong Way Joe wasn’t… and what did “HEROIC” Wrong Way Joe do…? Rush to the aid of his fellow crew members…? Heck No! he ran out of the building to take up a firing position FAAAAAAAR away from where zombies might actually get at him! (mental note: make Rick play the heroic hindrance or swap it for BAD LUCK!)

Sgt. J. Prince was trapped in the building surrounded by four zombies! Sgt. N. Prince came rushing into the compound to help his brother. Abby Aces made a run for it and made it out of the building, only to be swarmed again, one zombie got a lucky chomp on her neck and pretty much took her head right off! (SEVEN WOUNDS!! She soaked two… but that doesn’t really help much….)

Sgt. N. Prince and Mad Willy were attacked by zombies. The rest of the mercenary fire team rushed into the compound blazing away at the two zombies eating Abby’s brains… considering the number of ones and twos that they rolled I reckon there wasn’t much left of Abby Aces when the dust settled and they went to check on her… Wrong Way….? Still going the Wrong Way!!

Mad Willy’s card came up after the zombies made some wild, fruitless swings at him… and blew two of their heads off!! The next turn he finished off the other. After that he decided things were well enough in hand he went exploring the other buildings in the compound for the next couple turns….

It looked very bad for a moment when I drew a joker for the zombies… but Infantry Battle Suits are pretty good at keeping zombies at bay…

In the action both Sgt. Princes were bitten and wounded by zombies as was one of the other mercenaries - all failing their vigour rolls they were infected by the zombie virus!! (Don’t worry it wasn’t the fast-acting type like in 28 Days Later!). I think the most damage was done (other than to Abby…) from “friendly fire” Wrong Way and Bonesaw both hit Sgt. N. Prince while firing into melee… One of the Commandos accidentally shot their Sarge (Niko) while trying to shoot one of the zombies attacking him, causing a wound… Then Wrong Way shot and incapacitated one of the other Commandos… Which cause the other two in the fireteam to fail morale…

Eventually the zombies were whittled down to three… then two then one…

The survivors searched the bodies and found the remains of Fast Fred among them – conveniently his thumb was still intact!

Bonesaw did his magic on the wounded marines. The downed Commando was fixed up good and wounds removed all round…. Where there was trouble was with the zombie virus. Presumably because he got to him first, Sgt. N. Prince showed good response to the massive dose of antiviral drugs the doc administered, not so much for Sgt. J. Prince and the other bitten Commando. Sgt. Prince understood the score and shot himself in the head… the other Commando freaked out and tried to make a break for it… the others gunned him down.

Bonesaw was concerned about the contagion and told Captain Jackson he’d have to quarantine the crew and report the incident to the Imperial Centre for Disease Control. Captain Jackson talked some reason to him – if they reported it, they’d have to explain what the heck they were DOING there in the first place and told him that they would “self-quarantine” themselves – while traveling back to Bubba the Gutt’s and would blast and burn the compound to the ground and vapourize all the bodies within it and that should contain it, right?

At the loss of his brother, Sgt. N. Prince lost his Loyal Hindrance and gained a new one: MEAN!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

An abandoned part of the Ruined City of Barterton, The Wasteland, Sometime after “The Bomb”…

SITUATION

Mad Abdul Ali has gathered some reinforcements and travelled to Baterton with his truckload of treasure and hidden it away in an abandoned part of the ruined city. Tomorrow he will go into the market and try to sell any of the supplies his people do not need for themselves… if he still has it!

SCENARIO

Mad Abdul and the Desert Marauders have to defend their stash and set up in one corner. The Russians and Box Joe Jr’s Thugs are trying to take it away. They deployOn either of the two sides opposing the corner where the stash is. No one can’t walk off with it DURING the game so essentially it’s last ones standing get the prize…

Agent 68 has a slightly different task… She’s an assassin that works for a secret organization and has been sent to assassinate Mad Abdul… as luck would have it she has a list of “Targets of Opportunity” and Boz Joe Jr. and “The Russian” are both on it… So she wins if she can take them out. Say minor success if she tags Adbul, major success if she gets Abdul and one of the others, gold-plated success and a big ass bonus cheque if she tags all three!

Of course, if that weren’t enough…

The first unit to enter any ruined building for the first time must roll d6, on a 6 they disturb a hive of mutant bugs, which come off hold and attack immediately… After the first turn, if not engaged, they will always move toward the nearest unengaged (by bugs) target within movement range. If there are no such target they will aid in attacking any target engaged by bugs within range. If there is still no available target they will RUN towards the next nearest available target(s).

FORCES

Mutant Bugs (5)Ag d10, Sm d4(A), Sp d6, St d8, Vg d8,Pace 8, Parry 7, Toughness 6 (10)Skills: Fighting d10, Notice d8, Stealth d10,Edges: Combat Reflexes, Armour (+4)Claws Str+d8Special Abilities: No cohesion, no morale. When unengaged they will move towards the nearest unengaged non-bug within one move – or gang up on any that are within one move if there are less foes than bugs.

The Desert Marauders prepare to defend their stash against the approaching attackers.

Agent 68 observes from cover and realizes this may just be her lucky day – Three targets of opportunity all in one place!

Boz Joe Jr. and his thugz are out for blood…

The Russian leads his men through the ruined landscape.

Sgt. Popoff with the other Russian team dash towards a building.

When they entered everyone saw me roll a die and figured I was rolling to see if any zombies or bugs were there (they had noticed them right away, sitting off to the side of the table) and so avoided going into any further buildings… I’ll have to be more sneaky about my random creatures hiding places in the future…

Agent 68 gets a Joker!

She pegs a marauder and the rest of his team fail morale!

Boz Joe Jr’s thugs rush up to a wall looking over it they spot Agent 68 in cover – since she ain’t WITH them they must be against them… so they open up and blaze away at her with little effect…

The other team of Marauders are heavily engaged in a firefight with the Russians, one goes down… them two more…

Agent 68 dashes across the open and chocking speed, gets to a doorway and takes down another Marauder that was just getting a hold of himself. (Recovered from being shaken just in time to be shot dead…).

Boz Joe Jr’s Thugz continue moving up.

Agent 68 dashes out of cover once again shooting another Marauder, point blank, as she dashes by…

Then starts trying to shoot up mad Abdul!

Boz Joe Jr’s thugz keep shooting at Agent 68… not sure why…? As she seems to be doing a pretty good job of taking out all the guys they came to kill….

Mad Abdul with only two of his men left (both shaken beyond recovery) decided to split and ran off the table…

Off the table!? Sure, why not… Agent 68 still has two targets of opportunity… Okay so she probably would have pursued HIM… but whatever…

Boz Joe Jr’s thugz move up to the building and engage in a heavy firefight with the Russians for several turns.

Agent 68 snuck around the flank and shot The Russian, but didn’t manage to take him out. After a brief but violent exchange of fire The Russian took out Agent 68…

The firefight continued a couple more turns and eventually The Russian, his subordinate, Sgt. Popoff, and one of their troopers were the only Russians left, and both leaders were wounded so they decided to hobble away and fight another day…

Coming soon on Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

Hard to say… These last two adventures have been a LOT of fun… I might just run with it!

The L5R adventures are super fun, but there’s just waaaaaaay too much preparation involved for me to run those regularly… Hopefully I’ll find time to get back to those in a bit… but I could see a few more future skirmishes taking place before then!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

I’ve had a hankering to play a little post-apocalyptic/gritty sci-fi skirmish for a bit and as, once again, I didn’t have a game prepared I thought I’d “get it out of my system” this past Saturday… the unfortunate part is it was a LOT of fun and SOOOO much easier to prepare for than a “serious” role-playing adventure with “plots” and “intrigue” andstuff…

I made no great effort to make these units “equal” and let everyone pick which they wanted in the order that they arrived (well, except The Scout, which I made just for Amanda…).

Somewhere on the Wasteland, Sometime after “The Bomb”…

SITUATION

Find-it Freddy is the best scavenger in the wasteland. He can scrounge damn near anything. On his latest scrounging expedition Freddy hit the jackpot; he found an almost working truck – loaded with supplies, fuel, ammo. He hid the truck and headed back to Barterton where he’s been selling info about it’s location to anyone and everyone…

SCENARIO

Get the truck, drive it off the table… seems simple enough… except there’s at least four other gangs with the same plan… and there’s one other problem, the truck don’t work…

To Fix The Truck1 repair roll at -2 to diagnose what is wrong with it.3 repair rolls at -4 to fix ita raise on any of the repair rolls gives the mechanic a +2 on his next repair roll (i.e. makes the next roll only -2…)

Volatile SubstancesThe truck is loaded with gasoline and ammunition… any shots at any target within line of sight of the truck accidentally hit the truck on a 1 if single shots, 2 if full auto… for every hit roll d6, on a 6 the truck detonates… if it doesn’t, roll damage as per normal on the truck any critical hit roll of 9+ also causes the truck to detonate.

If the truck is hit with any explosive weapons it automatically detonates.

If the truck blows it does 10d6 damage to anyone in, on, or within 4” of the truck, and 4d6 damage to anything within 12”

If that weren’t enough…

The first unit to come within 2” of the truck or the ruined building next to it disturbs a hive of mutant bugs, which come off hold and attack immediately… After the first turn, if not engaged, they will always move toward the nearest target…

FORCES

Mutant Bugs (5)Ag d10, Sm d4(A), Sp d6, St d8, Vg d8,Pace 8, Parry 7, Toughness 6 (10)Skills: Fighting d10, Notice d8, Stealth d10,Edges: Combat Reflexes, Armour (+4)Claws Str+d8Special Abilities: No cohesion, no morale. When unengaged they will move towards the nearest unengaged non-bug within one move – or gang up on any that are within one move if there are less foes than bugs.

Sgt. Highway and his U.S. Army Fire Team. From the get-go they were taking down Desert Marauders.

The Prize – a truck loaded with petrol, supplies and ammunition…

Burt Jackson and his Combat Droids slowly clunking along it’s turn three and he’s already lost two to mechanical breakdown…

Boz Joe makes a dash for the village. His two remaining thugs are already in the village. Boz joe was slowed some by the two wounds he’s already taken.

The U.S. Army Fire Team decides to move for the cover of the village. They had been taking wildly inaccurate and ineffective fire from the marauders, but when The Scouts first shot range out a second after one of their teams guts exploded out through his Kevlar vest soiling the dune he was taking cover behind, they knew they could not remain there and take fire from BOTH sides!

A second member of the team when down in the hail of fire they attracted as they dashed across the open ground fron the dune to the building.

Darrin drew a Joker… WE were using the showdown rules this evening and he rolled on the Fortune and Calamity table and came up with “Out of Ammo”… seeing the scout as the biggest threat to himself eventually getting to the truck and driving it off he had her run out of ammo… we had pity on Amanda and said it was only the Sniper Rifle that was out of ammo and that she still had “last shots” in her side arm… So The Scout gave up her position in the hills and ran down, over bad going, taking wild long range shots with her pistol at long range…

BLAM! Dealt a deuce and a Bargain Bin Combat Droid EXPLODES – causing some damage to one of the others!

The U.S. Army patrol inching ever nearer the truck…

Boz Joe’s mechanic makes a dash from the cover of a building to the truck to see if he can start fixing it… all that shuffling about disturbed the hive of mutant bugs however… Poor Fatty the Wrench was instantly shredded!

Meanwhile Archibald Tucker wandered about unscathed despite wandering through a hail of bullets and laser beams…

The Scout fighting off two mutant bugs!

One of the Bugs finished off the last of the U.S. Army Patrol…

See all those extra wound markers on the truck… that’s what happens when and Englishman with NO SHOOTING SKILL picks up an SMG and fires at a crowd of mutant bugs standing right next to THE TRUCK – three hits on the truck – none on the bugs… Three wounds to the truck and somehow it DIDN’T blow!?!

One of the bugs goes for Mad Abdul…

Burt Jackson and the Desert Marauders exchange fire.

Mad Abdul shoots down Burt Jackson in cold blood…

Then does the same to the last of Boz Joes crew…

The Mad Englishman they kept alive… for the moment…

What a fun game! All this needed was some ZOMBIES!!

Coming soon on Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

More fun and excitement next week…

(actually it’s already Thursday and I haven’t even LOOKED at any of the L5R adventures… so it may just be another skirmish like this…)